THE PIONEER
tion. In a letter home he describes this fire in a fine, vivid way. At one place he says:
The level ranks of flame were relieved at intervals by the standard-bearers, as we called the tall dead trees, wrapped in fire, and waving their blazing banners a hundred feet in the air. Then we could turn from the scene to the lake, and see every branch and leaf and cataract of flame upon its banks perfectly reflected, as in a gleaming, fiery mirror.
He was acquiring the literary vision and touch. The description of this same fire in Roughing It, written ten years later, is scarcely more vivid.
Most of his letters home at this time tell of glowing prospects—the certainty of fortune ahead. The fever of the frontier is in them. Once, to Pamela Moffett, he wrote:
Orion and I have enough confidence in this country to think that, if the war lets us alone, we can make Mr. Moffett rich without its ever costing him a cent or a particle of trouble.
From the same letter we gather that the brothers are now somewhat interested in mining claims:
We have about 1,650 feet of mining-ground, and, if it proves good, Mr. Moffett's name will go in; and if not, I can get "feet" for him in the spring.
This was written about the end of October. Two months later, in midwinter, the mining fever came upon him with full force.
112
